"Began well but"

What I liked

Not much

What could be improved

My 17 year old son has a rare eye condition and has been under the Manchester Eye Hospital for many years now and has had several operations during this time. We have always attended appointments and until recently have seen the necessary consultants. However recently my son's eye condition deteriorated and we had to make some very difficult decisions. During one scheduled operation we were admitted at 9 in the morning and waited all day for theater but when it got to 6 and we still hadn't been called my son was at his wit's end. Remember he hadn't eaten since the previous evening and was becoming dehydrated. Apparently no one could find the consultant and the operation was cancelled. I had taken a day off work to attend and had to return the following day losing another day at work! We thought he might be first on the list but waited all day again. He did have his operation but not until 6 in the evening. I understand emergencies happen but no one explained anything and we were left in a room with little information. An awful experience!

Since then we have visited the department three times, again the consultants familiar with my son's case were not there and the doctor we did see recommended we see our consultant and they would get back to us with an appointment; they didn't! I eventually had to ring for a follow up appointment and again the consultant didn't turn up on two occasions. We waited for three hours on each occasion. I am unhappy and feel my son is now being sidelined. He has now sadly lost the sight in one of his eyes and I feel we are being ignored and my son feels let down. Is there any after care for a young man who has now got to deal with sight loss? Non has been offered. It has been a nightmare from start to finish and here I am only telling half the story.

Anything else?

Our experience began well but deteriorated as time went on and although we have lost the battle for his sight in one eye I don't want to experience the same problems with his other eye.